Fire-extinguishing and fireproofing composition.



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE E. FERGUSON, OF NEW YORK, N. 'Y., ASSIGNOR TO PYRENE MANUFACTURING COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE, Y

FIBE-EXTINGUISHING AND FIREPROOFIN G COMPOSITION.

No Drawing.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE E. FERoUsoN, a citizen of the United States, and resident of the city, county, and State of New York,

have invented certain new and useful Improvements 1n Fire-Extingulshlng and F1: e-

' proofing Com ositions, of which the followingis a speci cation.

he ob ect of this invention is to produce a fire extinguishing liquid from certain water soluble salts and, at the same time, fireproof the burning material to prevent its catching fire again, due to any burning embers in the immediate proximity or otherwise.

Other objects are to provide a liquid which has a low freezin point, is cheap to' manufacture and which is expelled from the extinguisher by the generation of a gas, such as by the action of an acid on a carbonate or bicarbonate.

After a lon series of experiments, it was found that al of these features and results were obtained in a liquid having the follow ing salts dissolved thereinz potassium carbonate (K 00 sodium phosphate (Na PO,12H O) and borax '(Na B,O,10H O). The acid for expelling this mixture ispreferably muriatic or hydrochloric acid, with a small amountof glycerin added.

Considering first the freezing point; it is well known that salts of inorganic substances commonly known as electrolytes will depress the freezing point of water. The extent of this depression depends upon the amount of salt dissolved. It is obvious, therefore, that could a very soluble salt be used which would, at the same time, have fire extinguishin and fireproofing qualities, the result would e ideal. I-have found that .a salt which accomplished this is potassium carbonate (K CO At zero degrees centigrade, 89.4 parts of potassium carbonate are soluble in 100 parts of water, and the resulting solution will not freeze until it reaches a temperature of -35 C. to -38 C, This dissolve which lowers the freezing point to -38 C. to -4.0 C. Not only is it necessary to add a fireproofing agent, such as a Specification of Letters Yatent.

Application filed December 12, 1914.- Serial No. 876,814.

phosphate for fireproofin qualities, but the 1ons of CO and (carbonate and potassium) mustnot again be introduced into the solution or precipitation will take' -fire extinguishing qualities.

The phosphate which I add is more soluble in a solution of potassium carbonate than in plain water; the presence of the alkali carbonate salt' facilitating solution.

The acid used togenerate the gas which expels the contents of the extinguisher is commercial hydrochloric or muriatic acid which, with the addition of a small amount of glycerin, will not freeze until it reaches a temperature below 50 C.

When this acid acts on the potassium carbonate carbon dioxid gas is evolved, and potassium chlorid is fornied. The salt thus formed, potassium chlorid (KCl) is also an excellent fireproofing as well as an eflicient fire extinguishing compound.

A number of results are produced in one liquid when acted upon by a reagent or acid as follows:

The liquid is expelled from the extin guisher by the generation of a gas; the liquid is composed of water soluble salts, it has a low freezing point, it is very efficient for extinguishing fires, and for fireproofing the material and is cheaply made.

The following steps show the process of determining the elements of the compound to produce these results:

If theliquid is to be ex elled by the action of a reagent or acid t ereupon to produce a gas it must contain either a carbonate or a bicarbonate which is soluble in water. There are other chemical actions, such as the action of an acid on a sulfite where sulfur dioxid gas is generated or: on a'cyamd where prussic acid gas is produced or upon hypo- .chlo'rite where chlorin gas is generated, all

of which could be made use of to expel the contents of the extinguisher, but the gases in each case, outside of the carbon dioxid gas, are oisonous and, therefore, must be eliminate as 1practically useless.

We have t en to consider only carbon dioxid as. While the action of any common acid on any carbonate or bicarbonate will generate thecarbon. dicxid gas and at the same time form the salt of the acid used in connection with'the metal (or group of elements acting like. a metal) which were originally combined with the carbonate radical, we must limit ourselves to soluble salts in makiniup this solution. This limitation gives ust ates to choose from: sodium' carbonate, sodium, bicarbonate, potassium carbonate, potassium bicarbonate, ammonium carbonate, ammonium bicarbonate. 0f these six I saltswe can eliminate ammonium carbonate for the depression of the freezing point of solutions can be aptly applied in this case.

' The amountthat the freezing point can be depressed can be determined by noting the solubility of the compound in water, which depends upon its weight and the tem erature at which it is dissolved. The f0 lowing table gives the solubilities for the four before mentioned salts:

Molecular i Tom era- 'weight. smbmty; tui' e.

Sodium carbonate 106 7.1 '0 0 Sodium bicarbonate 84 6.9 0 C Potasslum carbonate 138 89. 4 0 0 Potassium bicarbonate 100 22. 4 0 C (These. figures are comparable directly and the solubility factor means the weight of the salt soluble in 100 parts of pure water by weight.) 1

It is noted that the potassium carbonate.

gives the. most satisfactory result.

F or these two reasons, therefore, we prefer. to use potassium carbonate as the energy producmg salt and WhlCll has the most pronounced effect on the freezin point.

Another very excellent pomt about po- .tass um carbona e is that it is not easily de composed by heat; (requirin a tempera ture of 898 C. to melt it; its ecompositio'n point is very much higher.) Cbntrasting this property with the carbonate and bicartassium we the following:' r

bonate of sodium and the bicarbonate of po- Deccan Meltlngpoiut. W

Potassium bicarbonate 100to 150C. Not given. ggdium carbonate 849 C. Not given.

dlumblcarbonata... 270 C. V 27O' C.

From this it will be noted, that the'poree carbonates and three bicarbon-' necessary to-add a soluble substance, but,

tassium carbonate is,-in itself, a good fireproofing substance.

Tllile ef'liciency of watier, "as a file bextilrliis in agent is eat increase t e dditio of ndn-in fl ammhble soluble salts.

Potassium carbonate in Water will fireproof to a certain entent, but it is desirable to add some substance which will' impart greater resistance to the flame.

In this case, as hasbeen cited above, itis 15 more than this, it is necessary to add a substance which will not react in anyway with. the carbonate already dissolved. TlllS p revents the use of a potassium salt or'acid. The reasonis that the potassium. carbonate is present in a degree approximating satura tion, therefore the water has taken up nearly as, inuch potassium and carbonate ions 1 as it can hold and the introduction of, any more of these ions will cause potassium carbonate to be thrown out of the solution, which must be avoided. v

Ammonium salts are prohibited for the. reason before mentioned. Any carbonate other than sodium, potassium or ammonium of their properties:

noieeunrsoiubiu' in weight. ma ma ic,

Trisodium phosphate.. marohzino 380. 28.3 Dl-sodium phosphate" Na HP0 12H,0 358 6,.3 Hcnescfium pivspfize o 15% 0.. Very soluble4 Sodium 0 6 4 a 7 a Sodium x b t agh s ghate Na4P4O;,... 408 Insoluble.

Considering the solubility of these salts in a solution of potassium carbonate in water, we must eliminate "the di-sodium phosphate and the mono-sodium' phosphate, because they react with thepotassium car- "bonate, being-acid salts.- This leaves the sodium pyropho'sphate and the 'tri-sodimn phosphate (the sodium metaphosphate be- 1n insoluble). Of these two there is the so ubility to consider, and this point leaves. the choice with the trisodium' phosphate. This salt also has .a slight depressing effect on the freezing point and is slightly more so 1; Is in. the-presence of potassium carbonate than inpure water, although the salt is not added to its greatest degree of saturation, room being-left in the solution for an- I other sodium salt.

Borax,- or

tetra borate (Na Bl H O), has a number of distinctly interesting features as a fireproofing compound. When this salt is heated it froths up and increases four or five times its volume and finally. melts into a glassy mass of highly refractive properties, commonly known as borax glass. This salt (borax) is not very soluble in water, only 2.83 parts dissolving in 100 parts of water at 0 C. (by weight).

We have used 2.5 partsof harm: in the compound above mentioned. For this reason the trisodium phosphate was not dissolved to the point of saturation, otherwise the salt would be thrown down when the borax was added, due to the increase in sodium ions. 'The addition of the borax has practically no noticeable effect on the freezing poin The acid used in the ordinary soda and acid extinguisher to react on the bicarbonate of soda, thereby producing the pressure upon liberation of the carbon dioxid, is sulfuric acid. We cannot use this acid with the in 100 parts of water, by weight) to keep' it in solution; the result being a precipitation of, or a throwing down of potassium sulfate. Instead, therefore, of using this acid we find that muriatic or hydrochloric acid will accomplish the same result, so far as the formation of carbon dioxid is concerned, and, at the same time, give a salt, potassium" chlorid, which is nearly four times as soluble. (28.5 parts of potassium chlorid dissolving 100 parts of water at 0? 0., by weight).

Potassium chlorid is also an excellent fireproofing salt, as it does not decompose even at white heat; so that the use of hydrochloric acid' really ,increases the fireproofing efficiency of the compound.

The muriatic or hydrochloric acid, when treated with a small amount of glycerin, will I not freeze until it reaches a temperature of below 0., which feature is very important. Another acldiwhichcould be used is acet1c acid, which produces carbon'dioxid as read- 11y as hydrochloric acid, and which forms potassium acetate, an extremely soluble salt Another feature, not beforementioned, is

the fact that the solution of these compounds is so nearly saturated that the fire has only to act upon it a short time before these 'fireproofing salts are thrown down, due tothe in the formof steam, so that simultaneously with the extinguishing of the fire the wood is fireproofed and 'relgnited.

While I believe a solution containin all of the compounds above enumerated is to be preferred, from the commercial ands'cientific standpoint, I do not wish to be understood as limiting this invention to a compound containing necessarily all of the compounds or the specific compounds named, as it will be obvious that a number of solutions may be formed fromone or more of the-compounds named, or their equivalents, from the chemical standpoint, which would be efiicient for the purposes set out.

What I claim 1s: 4 1. A fireproofing and fire extinguishing composition comprlsing a substantially saturated aqueous solutionof potassium.- carbonate and borax, and suflicient sodium phosfact that the solvent, (water) is driven off I prevented from becoming phate to substantially saturate the solution.

2. A fireproofing and fire extinguishing composition .comprlslng an aqueous solution of potassium carbonate a phosphate of sodium and borazr.

3. A fireproofing andfire: extinguishing composition comprising an aqueous solution.

of potassium carbonate, trisodium phosphate and borax.

New

.GEORGE E. FERGUSON.

Witnesses:

Lnwrs J. Doom'rrnn,

.HARoLo W. CHAPMAN.

ed at the city, county, and State of ork, this 25th day of November, 1914. 

